Kaure language explained

Kaure
States:	Indonesia
Region:	Papua Aurina, Harna, Lereh, Masta, and Wes villages on the Nawa River
Speakers:	450
Date:	1995
Ref:	e18
Familycolor:	Papuan
Fam1:	Kaure–Kosare
Dia1:	Narau
Iso3:	bpp
Glotto:	kaur1271
Glottorefname:	Kaure–Narau
Map:	Kaure-Kapori languages.svg
Mapcaption:	Map: The Kaure, Kapori, and Kosare languages of New Guinea

Kaure is a Papuan language of West Papua. It is spoken in the villages of Lereh, Harna, Wes, Masta, and Aurina.^{[1] [2]}

Narau is either a dialect or a closely related language. It is known from a short word list in Giël (1959).^[3] Texts include Auri et al. (1991).^[4]

Phonology

Consonants

The Kaure consonants are:

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/
Plosive		pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/
		pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/
Fricative			pronounced as /ink/			pronounced as /ink/
Liquid				pronounced as /ink/
Semivowel		pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/

Vowels

The Kaure vowels are:

	Front	Back
Close	pronounced as /ink/, pronounced as /ink/
Mid	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/
Open	pronounced as /ink/

Tone

Like the Lakes Plain languages, Kaure is a tonal language. There are two tones, namely high and low.

Monosyllabic minimal pairs showing phonemic tone contrast include:

• tái ‘footprint’, tài ‘sago’
• pí ‘boil’, pì ‘pig’
• hín ‘limbum wood’, hìn ‘blood’
• héik ‘flower’, hèik ‘snake’

In multisyllabic words, only one stressed syllable carries full tone contrasts, while the other syllables are "neutral" or toneless.

Multisyllabic minimal sets include:

• káteil ‘toss it’, katéil ‘dry’, katèil ‘dry’
• nálain ‘female animal’, naláin ‘kind of root’, nalàin ‘to run off’

Pronouns

Attested pronouns are 1sg wẽ, 2sg hane, 1pl nene. The 2sg form resembles Mek *ka-n, and 1pl resembles Pauwasi numu~nin, but apart from that little can be said.

Kaure pronouns listed by Foley (2018) are:^[5]

	Independent	Possessive prefixes
1excl	wen	na-
1incl	nene	nene-
2	hane	ha-
3	nene	ne-

Kaure pronouns are not specified for number, just like in Nimboran.^[5]

Kaure–Kapori hypothesis

Voorhoeve (1975) suggested that Kaure was related to Kapori and Kosare, two otherwise unclassified languages. However, subsequent evaluations have not found any significant connections (Rumaropen 2006, Wambaliau 2006).

Further reading

• Benny Rumaropen (2006). Draft Survey Report on the Kapauri Language of Papua. SIL Electronic Survey Reports.
• Theresia Wambaliau (2006). Draft Laporan Survei pada Bahasa Kosare di Papua, Indonesia. SIL Electronic Survey Reports.
• Dommel, Peter R., Gudrun E. Dommel, Pieter Auri and Markus Pokoko. 1991. Kaure Vocabulary. Jayapura: Cooperative Program of the University of Cenderawasih and the Summer Institute of Linguistics.
• Dommel, Peter R. and Gudrun Dommel. 1993. Orang Kaure. In: Etnografi Irian Jaya: panduan sosial budaya (buku satu). 21–75. [Jayapura]: Kelompok Peneliti Etnografi Irian Jaya.
• Giël, R. 1959. Exploratie Oost-Meervlakte [Exploration of the Eastern Lakes Plain Area]. Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Ministerie van Koloniën: Kantoor Bevolkingszaken Nieuw-Guinea te Hollandia: Rapportenarchief, 1950–1962, nummer toegang 2.10.25, inventarisnummer 13. (Contains word lists of Taworta, Taria, Airo, Kaowera, Manowa (Boromesso), and Narau)

Notes and References

1. van Voskuylen . E. . etal . Kaure . Kaure . 1 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160625080429/http://papuaweb.org/bib/hays/loc/KAURE.pdf . 2016-06-25.
2. Web site: Kaure Ethnologue.
3. Giël, R. 1959. Exploratie Oost-Meervlakte [Exploration of the Eastern Lakes Plain Area]. Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Ministerie van Koloniën: Kantoor Bevolkingszaken Nieuw-Guinea te Hollandia: Rapportenarchief, 1950–1962, nummer toegang 2.10.25, inventarisnummer 13.
4. Auri, Piter, Peter R. Dommel and Markus Pokoko. 1991. Kaureki a Opoksel (Percakapan-percakapan Dalam Bahasa Kaure: Kaure Conversations). Jayapura: University of Cenderawasih and Summer Institute of Linguistics.
5. Book: Foley, William A. . Palmer . Bill . 2018 . The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide . The languages of Northwest New Guinea . The World of Linguistics . 4 . Berlin . De Gruyter Mouton . 433–568 . 978-3-11-028642-7.